Immune System News and Research

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Researchers find increased cancer incidence among patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders

Primary immunodeficiency disorders are a group of more than 300 single gene defects that affect the role of the immune system and prevent it from functioning properly. When Roswell Park Cancer Institute researchers evaluated the overall and site-specific incidence of cancer among patients registered in the United States Immune Deficiency Network, they found increased cancer incidence rates among patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases — and, in particular, a significant increase in lymphoma cases.

7 Jun 2016

Epigenomic alterations play key role in triggering obesity-induced diabetes

Obesity is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, yet not all obese humans develop the disease. In a new study, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and from the Institute of Health and Medical Research in France have identified epigenomic alterations that are associated with inflammation and type 2 diabetes

7 Jun 2016

Antiinflammatory drug HUMIRA enhances specific TNF function in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Researchers from University College London have discovered that the widely used antiinflammatory drug HUMIRA doesn't just work by inhibiting its target protein, TNF, but by enhancing a particular function of TNF in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

7 Jun 2016

Researchers aim to find new approach to improve chronic wound repair

Chronic wounds cause nearly 80,000 lower leg amputations annually in the U.S. alone and are associated with an increased likelihood of death.

6 Jun 2016

Zika virus directly infects brain progenitor cells in newborns to cause neurological problems

The mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to microcephaly and other neurological problems in newborns of affected mothers directly infects the brain progenitor cells destined to become neurons, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in a study published online today in Cell Reports.

6 Jun 2016

Alabama physician recommends childbearing-age women to take precautions against Zika virus

As concerns about the Zika virus rise among women of childbearing age in the United States, Joseph Biggio, M.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, wants those who are pregnant or trying to conceive to take precautions.

6 Jun 2016

Scientists use X-rays to study how eculizumab prevents immune system from damaging kidney tissue

In collaboration with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., scientists from Aarhus University have used X-rays to understand how the therapeutic antibody eculizumab prevents our immune system from destroying red blood cells and damaging kidney tissue.

6 Jun 2016

Improved research tool may open door to effective HIV vaccine designs

Vaccines are usually medicine's best defense against the world's deadliest microbes. However, HIV is so mutable that it has so far effectively evaded both the human immune system and scientists' attempts to make an effective vaccine to protect against it.

6 Jun 2016

Rare DNA alteration may increase rsk of multiple sclerosis

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health have proven that multiple sclerosis (MS) can be caused by a single genetic mutation - a rare alteration in DNA that makes it very likely a person will develop the more devastating form of the neurological disease.

6 Jun 2016

Metformin along with chemotherapy/radiation improves outcomes in head and neck cancer patients

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine have found that adding increasing doses of an approved Type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, to a chemotherapy and radiation treatment regimen in head and neck cancer patients is not well tolerated if escalated too quickly, but allowing slower escalation could be beneficial.

6 Jun 2016

Joint research reveals key mechanisms of persistent latent infection of HTLV-1

Joint research between scientists from Kumamoto University, Japan and Imperial College London, UK has revealed the mechanisms of persistent latent infection of the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1).

6 Jun 2016

Autoimmune diseases among lung cancer patients may make them unsuitable for immunotherapy

A significant proportion of lung cancer patients also have autoimmune disease, which may make them unsuitable for increasingly popular immunotherapy treatments, a team of researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center's Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

6 Jun 2016

Gene dysregulation makes immune therapies less effective against metastatic melanoma

Patients who don't respond to treatments that use their own immune cells to destroy tumors, called tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, share changes in mechanisms that switch genes on or off in those cells, according to study results presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology on June 4 in Chicago.

6 Jun 2016

Novel treatment combination helps combat hard-to-treat pediatric neuroblastoma

For seven months, three-year-old Emil Abbasov underwent chemotherapy to fight the tangerine-sized, cancerous tumor growing in his abdomen. But each time, the tumor resisted harder. Each time, he felt more side effects.

6 Jun 2016

Combination therapy equally good at treating small cell lung cancer

HAVING radiotherapy once a day for six and a half weeks or twice a day for three weeks -- when combined with chemotherapy -- is equally good at treating small cell lung cancer that hasn't spread.

6 Jun 2016

Novel drug atezolizumab harnesses immune system to shrink tumors in advanced bladder cancer

A new drug that harnesses the immune system to attack tumors is highly effective against advanced bladder cancer, according to the results of an international clinical trial to be presented June 5 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

6 Jun 2016

Experimental drug Rova-T shows safety, efficacy in treating advanced SCLC patients

The experimental "smart-bomb" drug rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) appears safe and shows efficacy in treating patients with advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to results from a first-in-human clinical trial to be presented today by a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researcher at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

6 Jun 2016

Nivolumab drug shows better response rate in metastatic bladder cancer patients

The immune checkpoint blockade drug nivolumab reduced tumor burden in 24.4 percent of patients with metastatic bladder cancer, regardless of whether their tumors had a biomarker related to the drug's target, according to clinical trial results from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

6 Jun 2016

Study provides insight to gene shuffling process

Use of a new technique developed at the Babraham Institute has allowed researchers to take an in-depth look at the gene shuffling process that is responsible for our body's ability to recognise a vast range of foreign agents such as disease-causing microorganisms.

4 Jun 2016

Lower quantities of CD74 protein in placentas of preeclamptic women can impact fetal development

Preeclampsia is one of the most common complications to occur during pregnancy, yet its causes are still unknown. A new study involving patients, cell cultures and animal experiments has now shown that those affected by the disease have lower quantities of the placenta's immune protein CD74, and that certain inflammatory factors are higher. These factors disrupt the formation of the placenta and leave the fetus undernourished.

3 Jun 2016

Immune System News and Research

Researchers find increased cancer incidence among patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders

Epigenomic alterations play key role in triggering obesity-induced diabetes

Antiinflammatory drug HUMIRA enhances specific TNF function in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Researchers aim to find new approach to improve chronic wound repair

Zika virus directly infects brain progenitor cells in newborns to cause neurological problems

Alabama physician recommends childbearing-age women to take precautions against Zika virus

Scientists use X-rays to study how eculizumab prevents immune system from damaging kidney tissue

Improved research tool may open door to effective HIV vaccine designs

Rare DNA alteration may increase rsk of multiple sclerosis

Metformin along with chemotherapy/radiation improves outcomes in head and neck cancer patients

Joint research reveals key mechanisms of persistent latent infection of HTLV-1

Autoimmune diseases among lung cancer patients may make them unsuitable for immunotherapy

Gene dysregulation makes immune therapies less effective against metastatic melanoma

Novel treatment combination helps combat hard-to-treat pediatric neuroblastoma

Combination therapy equally good at treating small cell lung cancer

Novel drug atezolizumab harnesses immune system to shrink tumors in advanced bladder cancer

Experimental drug Rova-T shows safety, efficacy in treating advanced SCLC patients

Nivolumab drug shows better response rate in metastatic bladder cancer patients

Study provides insight to gene shuffling process

Lower quantities of CD74 protein in placentas of preeclamptic women can impact fetal development

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